Being jobless sucks but not as bad as I thought

My contract with WB ended on Oct 31st. I remember it clearly, even though I knew it was coming and did my best to prepare for it, it still hit me pretty hard. I didn't quite freak out but it was close. I have always been defined by what I do and how I do it, so being jobless made me feel really worthless. I know that is pretty bad because there are more things to life then being a recovering workaholic, but that thought didn't make me any feel better. Luckily I have been preoccuppied with being in love with Bill, otherwise I think I might have gone slighlty crazy. I'm not suprised that I can't find a job, but I'm a little worried because for my whole life jobs have pretty much fallen in my lap and this time it hasn't.

I have never taken a vacation between new jobs, so this time I made up my mind that I would take a much needed vacation after my contract ended. I figured I would start seriously looking for a job at the beginning of the year. I made up my mind that I would put being jobless of out my mind for the 2 months before the new year. So far I have been pretty successful and have really enjoyed my time off and spending it with Bill. Since my last day in Oct, we have stayed at Disney for 2 weeks, went to Laughlin, Sedona and back to Disney. So even though I'm jobless, which sucks and I've let it come into my thoughts a few times in the last couple of months, I've really enjoyed the downtime and spending it with Bill. If I'm not careful I could get used to this, because being jobless isn't as bad as I thought it would be.

I have a good excuse, really I do

I know, I haven't updated my blog in more than 2 months, but I have a good excuse, really I do. It's not that me and Woodstock haven't had some excellent adventures, cuz we have. It's just that something totally unexpected happened to me in Oct. I fell in love... My life has taken a different path that I did not think was possible just 3 short months ago. I lived by myself for over 20 years and I liked it that way. I was free to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I never wanted to, or thought of the possibility of getting married.

Well, my life has changed drastically and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I love my life even better now. I now have someone that I can share my life with and we can still do whatever we want whenever we want. Me and Bill got engaged Thanksgiving week and just set the wedding date for Oct 24th 2010. Wow, Love is a wonderful thing which I knew but somehow forgot about. Thanks Bill for reminding me that life without love is not worth living.

The Perfect Sunday

I know I haven't posted in over a month... What can I say? life is just so full these days that my blog has taken a back seat. I'm going to try and get back on track with the one post a day thing again though.

Yesterday was one long workday, I ended up working something like 17 hours straight, so needless to say, I'm beat. Sundays are usually my veg days, but lately a certain someone is not making that very easy, so I haven't vegged on a Sunday in a few months now. Well today, I'm going to veg, first of all cuz I'm really sleepy and have no engergy and second, I just don't feel like going anywhere. It turns out that this is the perfect day for vegging, it's one of those dark gloomy days where you can stay in your cozy bed all day and surf the web and fall asleep in between every once in awhile. Not sure I'll be able to do that cuz Bill is coming over, but hey you never know. So yeah today is going to be the perfect Sunday maybe curled up on the couch with Bill watching movies or something, who knows??? I just know that I'm spending the day with someone I really like and I'm not leaving the house for anything.

Woodstock is lonely

Well I finally did it, I sold my 2005 BMW 325Ci. Actually I sold it last month, but I was waiting for the title to come so that I could sign it over to it's new owner. Yesterday was the day, the new owner met me at the DMV where I signed the car over to her, can you believe they charged her $1500 in sales tax? This was the first time I ever sold a car and didn't know they charged sales tax on a car that I had already paid sales tax on when I bought it. What a scam...

Anyway, my friend who bought the car always drove old hand me down clunkers and this is her first nice car. I went over all the car's features, just like they do at the dealership and after all was said and done she left. I looked in the garage and poor Woodstock looked so little and lonely all by himself in there. Poor thing had to sleep by himself last night, he's always had big brother BMW next to him. I know both of us will eventually get over the loss. =o(

Lemon Law Process

As much as a love my cute little Woodstock, we've had some great times but we've also been to the shop 1 too many times, (over 65 days at the dealer for some major repairs). It was fine when I had 2 cars, but since I recently sold my BMW I don't have the luxury to have such an unreliable car. It's sad really cuz aside from the numerous problems he runs really good. I'm just worried that one of these days I'm going to be stranded somewhere. I contacted a Lemon Law lawyer who states that I have a pretty solid case. It will take around 6 months to complete, so we'll see how that goes. I really want another MINI, I just don't want to get another one and have the same kinds of issues. It seems like many people are having reocurring clutch, transmission, flywheel failures and MINI hasn't addressed these problems yet. So for now, I'm not sure what kind of car I'm going to get, it's a toss up between a MINI JCW or a BMW 135i so far I'm leaning towards the 135i

Back at work

Well after a last minute reprieve from joblessness on the 31st of July I'm back at work. I got to work but I have no access, so I decided to update my blog. Lets backtrack just a little. My last day was the 31st of July, I had already cleaned up my desk and was deleting all the stuff off of my computer when I was told that I got extended until Oct. Wow, was I surprised. I had already made plans to do the swap meets and take a break for a couple of months. This was great news, the only problem was even though they put in the paperwork for the extension, It had not been approved yet. So they told me to take a vacation for a week and come back today. Wow a 9 day vacation, boy did I use every min of that vacation to try and get caught up with my life. I got stocked up with tshirts for Stuck On Minis, sold my BMW, had lunch/dinner with friends and just a had a really nice relaxing 9 days off.

So I'm now back at work for at least another 2.5 months and hopefully the economy will get a little better by the end of Oct so I can find another job, or maybe they'll extend me again? At this poing who knows what the future will bring job wise, but at least for now I'm working which is a good thing.

09 Wine Country British & Euro Car Show 08/23/09

Just wanted to give you a heads up that Stuck On Minis will be a vendor at the REME (Redwood Empire Mini Enthusiasts) sponsored 2009 Wine Country British & European Car Show on 08/23/09 at 5525 Old Redwood Highway (Between Fulton & Shiloh Roads) Santa Rosa, Ca. A portion of the proceeds are to benefit the Safari West Wildlife Foundation
So far there are many MINI/Mini's, MG's, Rolls, etc signed up, it looks like it's going to be a really nice event.

Please come out and join us, it should be a great day with all the classic British Cars in attendance.

MINI's at the shooting range

I love to go to the range and shoot targets, I used to go at least once or twice a week. Ever since I got my MINI, I have been doing "MINI" stuff pretty much every weekend and my shooting activities have been sidelined. Well this weekend, me and my fellow Maniacs, some experienced, some newbies got together and went to the Oak Tree Gun club. We all had a blast, some of us shot trap and some of shot steel and paper targets. I'm so glad that I was able to share my other passion with my MINI friends. I hope we do it again soon.

MINI's at Mission Tiki Drive-In

SCMM had it's 4th annual MINI's at The Mission Tiki Drive-In on Sat to see Transformers 2. This was kind of a last min event so the usual amount of people could not attend. We did get a respectable showing of 24 MINI's including Tavis's classic mini, an Acura (Scott just sold his Classic MINI) and another non MINI.

Even though we didn't have the 80 cars that we had last year, we still had a really nice time. There was an original Hawaiian Shirt Contest and a raffle. Ontario BMW came out to promote their new MINI Dealership (it will open in Nov of this year) and they raffled off many cool MINI items. I won a nice MINI keychain and my sis won a t-shirt. They will also send an email to 3 lucky Ipod winners. I hope I win one...
Looking forward to next years event...

The countdown begins

There are only 21 days left in my work contract and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get extended. I've had a bunch of interviews but nothing has panned out. So I think if I don't get a job, I'm just going to hit the road with Woodstock and be a vendor with Stuck On Minis at some of the car show events and swap meets in California. I've always wanted to have my own business and I think this is the perfect opportunity. Who knows maybe if things work out I won't have to go back to a "real" job.

What are the odds???

Me and my niece signed up with 4 different emails each for the Michael Jackson Memorial and we didn't win one ticket. Her boyfriend who was with us when we were signing up wasn't even interested, but he signed up using a couple of his email addresses. Can you believe that out of approx 1.6 million entries he won twice, meaning he won 4 tickets!!! Geez, what are the odds, that is one lucky guy. Well, Ashley at this very moment is at the Staples Center with him. She's going to take lots of pictures for me.. I'm glad that one of us got to go.

Who registered for Michael Jackson's Memorial

Ok, I admit it, I was one of 1.6 million people who registered to try and win one of approx 17,500 tickets to see Michael Jackson's Memorial at Staples Center. I know the odds aren't that great, but you never know, maybe I'll get lucky.

If anyone wins one, please comment on this post, I'm really curious to know who you are and where you're from.

Good Luck everyone.

My home away from home

Yay!!! I'm up here in Ventura at the Harbortown Point my home away from home. Every year for the 4th of July week my family heads up to Ventura for rest and relaxation and to get away from the heat in L.A. We have done this for the past 20 plus years and me, my family and friends always look forward to coming here. However, for the past couple of years, it's also been a sad week, because this is the same week my dad died almost 3 years ago. We miss him dearly but coming here always reminds us of all the fun we had with him and brings back all the fond memories of the past 20 years. I miss you dad and wish you were here in body but know you are here in spirit.

I was a fan - R.I.P Michael & Farrah

I am not ashamed to admit this, but I was one of those crazy almost obsessed Michael Jackson Fans in the 80's. I saw his Victory tour twice in Atlanta, then drove to Jacksonville Florida and saw him there. I also drove from Utah to Los Angeles to see him, except he cancelled at the last minute due to an illness.

I was also a huge Charlies Angels fan, I remember I had to have the Farrah feathered hair =o)

I am in shock and I am saddened that we have lost 2 shining stars. R.I.P. Michael and Farrah, the world will miss you..

The economy is not improving

I've been reading lately that the economy is improving. I don't know where these economists are getting their data from, but I don't see the economy improving at all. My best friend just got called into a "big" meeting about an 1 1/2 ago and was told that his and his entire department's jobs had just been eliminated. He was then escorted out of the building. So many of my friends are in the same position and I'm afraid that this is just the beginning. Due to outsourcing, my contract ends on July 31st so if I don't find a job within the next 40 days I'll be in the same position as them.

What is going to happen when all the jobs in the U.S. have been outsourced to other countries? I'm afraid we are going to become the next 3rd world country if things don't start to change in the U.S. I am saddened to see my Country in the shape it is in and I am afraid for my nieces and their futures. What happened to people caring about people, courtesy, consideration, selflessness, loyalty etc. it seems it has been replaced by greed, which is sad and will or could be the demise of the U.S.

MINI 50 years - Rebel without pause

Check out this cool video, My friend Scott and his "Silver Brick" Classic Mini are in it.

"1959 - 2009: It has been a fantastic journey and the most exciting is still to come! The brand film "Rebel without Pause" focuses on MINI fans and drivers all around the world and their personal experiences with MINI. ..."

No road rage today

I didn't write about this when it happened but I got road raged last friday by a pyscho BMW driver. It came totally out of the blue, basically we were driving and I was following him, but not close and we were of course driving pretty fast. When we came to a light he waited for me with his window down, I didn't think much of it, cuz there was really nothing to be worried about. We were just sitting there waiting for the light when all of sudden he throws this green disgusting stuff all over my car. Boy was I pissed, I chased him down got his license plate and filed a police report. I guess he was just jealous that he didn't have a MINI..

Well anyway, that incident kind of put me on edge so I haven't driven Woodstock the entire week. I decided to drive him today and was pleasantly surprised when I turned into parking structure and a Blue MC drove by a flashed me a Peace Sign wave. I was so happy, I haven't gotten a wave from a MINI in a very long time. Then on the way home I was stopped at a red light and the Lexus IS owner next to me commented that my car was gorgeous.

Wow what a great Friday compared to the rage incident last Friday..

Stuck On Minis - All MINI Car Show Tomorrow

Just wanted to let you that Stuck On Minis will be at the Enderle Center in Tustin for SCMM's annual All MINI Car Show. I will have a booth and will be selling vinyl stickers and taking T-shirt orders. I will have some shirts available for sale too.

Hope to see you there tomorrow.

The All MINI Car Show - Jun 13th

Don't forget the All MINI/Mini Car Show at the Enderle Center in Tustin

View Larger Map

So far we have 98 Minis signed up, we would like to beat last years total 0f 106 Minis

All MINI/Minis are welcome to come hang out with us, there will be vendors, prizes for the best MINI, Road Warrior Etc., free Krispy Kreme donuts

Where: 14081 S. Yorba St. Tustin, CA 92780 (Enderle Center)
When: Sat Jun 13th - Car Show starts 8:00 AM
Why: Benefit the Animal Assistance League of Orange County & SCMM
Cost: $10.00 at the Gate

Hope to see you and your Mini there...

$5000 over MSRP?

Ok, curousity got the best of me and I had to go see what this Cube was all about. I went to my local Nissan dealer and there was nobody in sight, which was good cuz I was just looking. I went up to the most expensive Cube model the Krom and much to surprise I found out that this dealer is marking the car up $5000 over MSRP. It turns out all Cube models had the same ridiculous markup. I thought MINI dealers were bad when they marked the MINI $3000 and the Clubman $5000. I talked to one of the salesman and asked him if people were actually paying that markup, he said no but they were paying anywhere from $2500 - $3000 markup. I told him they were crazy in this economy nobody pays that He stated the the dealer was only out to get what they could get while they could get away with it .. Wow unbelievable!!!

Nissan Cube - Borg vessel in disguise?

I can't believe I'm writing about a car that's not a MINI but here goes. On the way to our monthly bowling dinner with some of the Maniacs, I saw one of the ugliest cars I've ever seen before, not counting the convertible PT Cruiser which is probably the worst of all.. I know I just offended alot of people, sorry but this is just my opinion. I had heard about the Cube but had never seen one, this one was a charcoal grey car and for some reason it reminded me of a Borg ship... It was so ugly that it was actually kind of cute. I think it's one of those cars that can and will grow on you. Well, at least it's original and has personality and doesn't look like every other car out there, and I can totally appreciate that...

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

It was my mom's birthday today and I wanted to wish her a very Happy Birthday!!! I'm lucky my mom is the best mom anyone can have, she would do anything for me, my sister and my nieces. I love her so much and wish she could live forever..

SoCal Krispy Kreme - MINI owners promotion

This just in:

MINI owners! Get your fix of Krispy Kreme donuts, for FREE, every Monday during the months of June, July and August. Just show your MINI key at any Southern California Krispy Kreme and receive a free box of mini donuts.

Ooh I can't wait until the first Monday of June to check out this new promotion.

All MINI Car Show Jun 13th - All MINIs are invited

The Enderle Center and the SoCal MINI Manics

present the

2nd Annual All MINI/Mini car show at the Enderle Center in Tustin

When: Sat. Jun 13th 2009

Time: Entrants should arrive between 7:00-7:30

Entrance Fee: $10.00

Open to all MINI/Mini cars and their owners

Entrance Fee will benefit the Animal Assistance League of Orange County

Please RSVP to Dan Skorcz:

email: dan@pacific-tek.com

cell: 714-936-9613

or comment to this post and I will rsvp for you

There will be be awards, raffle prizes, and several MINI vendors

Last year's event brought the largest gathering of Maniacs MINIs to one place at one time, we had over 100 cars. We would like to beat that record this year.

You do not have to be a SCMM'r to join in the fun, if you have a MINI/Mini you are more than welcome to register your car and join us for a fun filled day. Actually you don't even have to own a MINI, come out and check out the cars and have some fun.

Oh Yeah, how can I forget, Krispy Kreme will be there giving out free donuts!!!

As of now the following vendors will be there:

Stuck On MINI's

Twistybitz

South Bay MINI

Carnuba Store

CoolMINIStuff

Tropical Shine

MINIs For Kids

Krispy Kreme - Free Donuts

Hope to see you all there!!!

Got my new MAXX Heat Press

Yay, I got my new heat press today. I finally did it, after much research I bought my MAXX 15 x 15 digital heat press. I decided to go with a heat press cuz I tried going the silkscreen route and that is just way too expensive and time consuming. With a heat press, I can make sample shirts and also do shirts on an order basis without having to buy huge quantities of 1 design, it just made more sense than silkscreening. Here is a shirt I designed for SCMM's annual MOAT (Mother Of All Twisties) The front has "I SURVIVED"and the back has SCMM's logo.

Rest & Relax Day

This long weekend was jammed packed with activties starting Friday getting ready for the big BBQ, Sat big BBQ, Sun geochaching/hiking over 4 miles. Whew, I'm beat and my feet are killing me. I decided to stay home with Niki and just veg the whole day. It was great to camp out on the couch and watch disaster TV all day...

I hate snakes!!!

I've been doing pretty good with the hiking thing, and have hiked at least once or twice every week since I made up my mind that I needed to get in shape. A bunch of SCMM'rs went on a geocaching/hike early this morning. It was a nice cool morning, so I wasn't expecting to see any snakes out and about. Well, I was wrong, we were looking for our first cache of the morning when Diana yelled snake!!! I hate snakes and of course screamed and ran, well the snake was a baby rattler and was less than a foot away from me when it started slithering... Totally freaked me out. On the way back from our hike on a fairly big fire road, there was another bigger rattler just sunning himself on the side of the road. I really didn't want to pass him, but I had enough room to get around him,...I'm glad he didn't bother us..

BBQ - MINI's at Mom's

To kick off the summer, I hosted a BBQ for the SoCal MINI Maniacs on Sat. When I set this up I didn't realize that it was the Memorial Day Weekend. I was a little worried that people made other plans for the weekend, but my worries were unfounded. A little over 50 Maniacs showed up and we had such a good time eating all the wonderful food. I provided the the handmade hamburgers, hotdogs, devilled eggs and potato salad, and each person brought some kind of side dish. Wow, we had sooo much delicious food, it was one of the best BBQ's ever.

IE Errors trying to open my blog

I'm not sure what happened but something is wrong with my blog, and I can't get it to load in Internet Explorer. It will open using Firefox and Safari but I get an error when trying to open in it IE. I did a search on the web for this error and it states to remove all of my java applications one by one to find the culprit and I did that but it still seems to error every once in awhile. The funny thing is, I haven't added a Java app in awhile and it this error just started happening, so I'm not sure what happened. I'm still in the process of trying to fix it...

Went to the Tam O'Shanter for Mother's Day - Los Angeles

Mother's days was very nice this year, we really haven't celebrated in the last few years since my dad died, I guess cuz my mom, didn't want to, without him there. This year she wanted to go to the Tam, so she made the reservation about 4 months ago ( you have to make them at least 4 months in advance to get a decent seat time). For those of you who don't know about this restaraunt I'll give you a little background, it is located on Los Feliz blvd in Atwater and has been in business for the last 80 years, the food is awesome and the atmoshere is Old World Scottish, we have been going there since I was a kid, they have the best prime rib!!!

Well anyway, I think this is the first time we've gone out with just me, my mom, my sister and my 3 nieces for a nice meal. My nieces usually have to bring their entourage of friends, boyfriends etc to every outing we go to. This time, it was just us and we had a nice sit down meal, talked and enjoyed each others company which we rarely do. It's hard to get them to commit to spending time with us these days and it was really nice that they did today.

Hung out with Maniacs,saw Star Trek

Sat was a great day, I met the Maniacs for breakfast at Ruby's in Long Beach, then afterwards of few of us went to see Star Trek at the AMC. I don't want to ruin it for you, so all I'll say is I really liked that they gave you some of the back stories of the characters. It did take some getting used to, not seeing the familiar faces in the same roles, but I got over that reaction pretty quick and ended up really liking the movie.

After the movie I went to pick up Woodstock and am happy to say that he is a good as new. The clutch feels much better now, and for now I can downshift from 3rd to 2nd without the screaching noise, I'll test it more when we do the Mother Of All Twisties next week. It was a great Sat, hanging with the SoCal Mini Maniacs, seeing Star Trek and getting Woodstock back....

Been too busy to post

I've been so busy with work, hiking, making stickers for my cousins Dragon Boat team and MOAT, taking my car into the shop etc. that I haven't had time to post anything for the past week. So much for my 1 post a day commitment. Oh well, that's the way life is, you just have to go with the flow otherwise you'll go crazy. It looks like this is going to be one busy summer, so I think I might end up skipping alot of posts.

There are lots of MINI activities in May

Wow, the month of May has many MINI activities going on. There's the first of the month Coogies breakfast meet the first Sat of the month. Then Seal Beach Ruby's breakfast meetup and Star Trek Movie on the 2nd Sat of the month. Then we have the 4th annual SCMM Mother of All Twisties run and lunch on the 3rd Sunday of the month. Then last but not least we have the MINI's at my Mom's BBQ on the 23rd. It's going to be a busy and fun month filled with lots of MINI stuff to do.

Got a MINI Cooper Loaner for a week

Well, once again Woodstock is in the shop for some major work. He is getting a brand new clutch, a new under the steering wheel panel with new clips, a new Punch Leather seat cover and they are going to fix my armrest that never seems to keep closed. He's going to be at Mini of Monrovia for at least a week.

John was able to get me a brand new 2009 Oxygen Blue Mini Cooper loaner car, granted, it's not an S, but this car is pretty loaded, it has the convenience package, auto air, bluetooth, sunroof etc. At first I thought the Oxygen blue was ugly, but this color is actually pretty nice and I like it now. Driving a Justacooper isn't that bad either, I look forward to putting some miles on this car during the week.

I thought I was going to die

Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but not by much. Wow, I didn't realize that I was so out of shape!!! To be fair this is the first attempt at exercising I've done in a few years and Ashley did take me on the hardest trail there is. Plus I had Niki with me, she ended up walking me....I wanted to quit so bad, but I was determined not to wimp out and after Ash slowed down a little I made it the entire 3 miles. Hopefully this will get easier as I do it more often....

Time to lose weight & get in shape

I've let my weight get totally out of hand and this is the worst shape I have been in, in my entire life. I got the job at WB and joined SCMM right around the same time last year, the problem with these two things is that they are both all about the eating... I sit at work all day and munch on all the stuff people bring in, and you wouldn't believe all the vendor lunches we get taken too, then on the weekends when I hang out with the Maniacs all we do is drive and eat. My problem is I love to eat, so I finally decided I need to do something to at least offset the eating. I've decided that I need to start walking or hiking at least 3 times a week. Tonight me and my sister are going hiking, I know I need to do more, so I'm cutting way down on the snacking at work too. Hopefully I'll be able to lose some weight and get back in shape soon.

Finally installed front license plate

I've always hated to put a front license plate on any of my cars and have always requested that they don't drill the holes into the front bumper. I figure I can get away with it for awhile unless I get a ticket. Well I got the ticket a few months ago and now I need to get it signed off, so I finally gave in and had the dealer drill the holes. Woodstock is now almost legal, I still have to take the window tint off the front 2 windows which I really don't want to do... That's what I get for speeding, I guess it was better to get a fixit ticket than a speeding ticket.

Krispy Kreme minis Sweepstakes - Los Angeles

Great, I just decided I wanted to lose some weight and now I get this email from Krispy Kreme about their new mini's promotion. For every purchase of their new mini's donuts you will get a chance to win a new MINI Copper. The contest runs from 4/27/09 - 05/31/09. There goes my diet...

Went Bowling last night

I got invited to join some of the Maniacs for bowling and dinner last night. I was a little apprehensive, I haven't picked up bowling ball since I was in the Army and even then I didn't really know how to bowl. They all assured me that it was more about the getting together with friends then it was about the bowling. You know, they were right, it was about the friendship. I of course, bowled very bad, but I still had the best of times hanging out with my MINI friends. It was such a nice day of bowling, friendship, food and shopping. It was such a nice day and it's so cool that they do this once a month, a different person picks the bowling alley and dinner spot each month. I can't wait until next month so we can do it again.

Woodstock needs a new clutch

Took Woodstock to MINI of Monrovia to get the panel under the steering wheel replaced due to excessive squeaking. While I was there I mentioned that when downshifting from 3rd to 2nd gear, it makes this horrendous squealing sound. The tech took it for a test ride and the same thing happened to him. So guess what? I need a new clutch at 12999 miles on the car. Luckily there's a warranty TSB that covers this problems for the 2007's and above so I don't have to pay for it. This is the 4th major problem I've had with the car which I've only had for a year... I might have to think about lemoning my poor baby =o(

MINI Clubman meets Airstream

I just noticed a thread on the SCMM forum about MINI and Airstream, so I had to do a little research. Wow even though this was just a collaboration with MINI and Airstream and a Swedish designer, it's a pretty cool idea. They are displaying his work in Milan at some design show in April. I don't know how feasible it is considering that the trailer probably weights too much for the MINI, but it such a neat concept, and I love the design aspect of it. For more info just click on the link jalopnik.com/mini-cooper-s-clubman-airstream-concept-lets-motorlounge

What a difference a year makes

Well, since my contract officially ends on July 31st, I have kept my eyes peeled for another job. My resume has been posted on Dice since before I left Disney. I used to to get 2-3 calls a week and last year at the height of it all, I had 5 job interviews in a week and 2 job offers. Dice is an amazing resource, my last 3 jobs I was placed by recruiters that got my resume from Dice. Now I rarely get called and after looking at the jobs posted on Dice I notice, there are hardly any AIX jobs at all. Geez what a difference a year makes..

It's 95 degrees out!!

Geez, I was in the air conditioned building all day and just went out for lunch. Wow my car registered 95 degrees.... Yucky I hate hot weather, my ideal outside temp is 75 degrees. I'm sooooo glad I got my central air, condensor fixed last year....

Bakersfield was better this year

My Bakersfield WTSOB5 weekend has come to an end. This is one of the best trips I've taken with the club. Last years WTSOB4 was fun, but I had so much more fun this trip. I think it's cuz last year I was only a club member for 2 weeks, so I was a little apprehensive about the run itself plus I really didn't know that many people. This year, I knew everyone and even though we didn't have as many people as last year we still had a great time. The weather was beautiful where as last year it was freezing. Niki got sick last year and injured her paw and since we were in the 3rd group this time and didn't to the extreme twisties she was much happier.

Woodstock runs soo nice and smooth, he is meant to drive those nice newly paved twisty roads up there. I can't wait until next year!!!

It's all about the food, friendship and fun

Wow, what an amazing day!!! It was the perfect way to spend my Birthday.. We ate breakfast, went to the Tehachapie Loop but did not get to see a train do the loop.


We proceeded to the meet up point where we broke up into 3 different groups. The first group was Pedal to the Metal group, not very many choose this group but there were a few diehards. The majority of us were in the 2nd group, which is a little slower than the first but not much. Last year I was in the second group and Niki got sick and started hyperventaliting. I didn't want to kill my dog this year so I decided to go with a newly formed 3rd group. They called us the slow group, but I would prefer to call it the scenic group, cuz we weren't exactly going slow, and following the Kern River route was so beautiful. We actually made it to McDonalds before the second group and that wasn't suppossed to happen.





We met up at McDonalds for a potty break and snack, then headed to Kernville for another meal.. After lunch the 1st and 2nd group headed for the mountains and the 3rd group, back tracked to follow the Kern River again. We all met at the Lengthwise Brewery where everyone got together to talk about our amazing day, to drink beers or in my case a Coke Float. The guys gave me this great card that everyone signed.. That was soo sweet of Debe to cooridnate. Then we headed to the bowling alley for some friendly competition.



It was a day filled with lots of food I think we stopped 4 different times for food, driving (we drove approx 200 hundred miles) and friendship (approx 24 Minis and maybe 50 people attended)... that's what life is about and I love the time I spend with my SCMM buddies!!!

BBQ in Bakersfield

I met a bunch of Maniacs in Sylmar to caravan up to Bakersfield, we thought we would miss the Friday traffic by leaving at around 3:15pm, but no such luck. There was so much traffic and we saw approx 10 CHP's just sitting or giving tickets. We were good and none of us got pulled over. We made it to Bakersfield around 5 and checked into our hotel and then headed over to Tavis and Angela's house for the BBQ they were hosting.

Tavis BBQ'd this awesome tri-tip stuffed with something yummy, and the rest of the Maniacs brought all kinds of food. Lisa was so sweet and baked me a birthday cake which she brought all the way up from Oxnard, that was so nice of her. My birthday isn't until tomorrow but they figured we would be on the road the whole day so they did it a day early.

Well I have to hit the sack cuz we are getting up early to hit the road to meet the rest of the Maniacs driving up from OC and L.A.

Packing for the annual Bakersfield trip

I know, I know, who in the world goes to Bakersfield, voluntarily? Well the crazy SCMM Miniacs, that's who. This is the clubs 5th annual Walking The Streets Of Bakersfield outing and it starts tomorrow. My first one was last year, only a few weeks after I bought Woodstock. This is the trip that got me hooked on SCMM and drving my MINI. Unlike the title we really don't walk the streets of Bakersfield, we fly through the twisties up through Kernville, this is one of the best events of the year and I'm really looking forward to spending of couple of days with the Maniacs.

I gotta go pack now...I'll post pics of the event when I return.

I've got Bloggers Block

Hmm, not sure what's happening here, I usually have so much to say, but lately I can't think of anything to write about. Hopefully I'll get over my Blogger's Block soon, cuz I already messed up my 1 post a day thing.

Ridemakerz customer service is awesome

I'm really impressed by this company, their customer service is top notch and they follow through with everything they say they are going to do.

I received my replacement Mini on Sat, as promised, they didn't wait for me to send mine back which is really cool..

Their website is pretty good, but there are a couple of issues with it that need to be refined a little. When I ordered my MINI I added my giftcard info, but apparently the web page doesn't automatically enter your giftcard unless you hit apply, the apply button wasn't very obvious to me so it didn't apply the giftcard amount. I also forgot to fill out my Certificate of Title and forgot to check the box that I wanted the stock wheels. After I hit the buy button, I found out the giftcard wasn't applied to my purchase and they charged my card the entire amount. I immediately sent them an email stating all the issues I had. I spoke with a customer service rep,and she fixed everything, she credited my account with the giftcard amount, and since the order already went out (they are super speedy for fulfulling orders) she sent me the stock wheels in a separate shipment and the Certificate of Title via Federal Express, without charging me additional shipping charges.

That is awesome customer service, it's nice to know there are still companies that put the customer first. I will definitely be buying another Ridemakerz car in the future!!!

Happy Easter!!!

What a nice peaceful, happy day, I hadn't planned on going to church, but my sister called and wanted to suprise my mom, so I got up and went to church, which made my mom so happy. After church, I spent the rest of the day at moms, Deb made everyone breakfast and mom made pot roast for dinner. My mom was so cute and made little plastic eggs filled with candy and a little bit of money for everyone. I felt like a little kid again. Me and Niki ended napping the whole day which was sooooo nice. I don't normally take a nap but it was such a nice quiet day we fell asleep on the couch with the windows opened and a nice breeze. It was a great day spending it with my sis, mom and nieces, I don't do it very often so it was extra special today.

Too lazy to post

My 3 day weekend has turned into a I'm going to be a bum and do whatever weekend. These are the best kind of weekends cuz you never know whats going to happen. That's why I flaked and was too lazy to post anything for the past 2 days, I just didn't feel like posting anything.

Today was a great day, me and Robert (TwistyBitz) caravaned to Ruby's to hang out with the Maniacs. It was such a beautiful puffy cloud day and we hung out longer than normal. Afterwards, we headed to Roberts house and he showed me all of this artwork and studio for his TwistyBitz t-shirts and stuff. He is so artistic, he's been giving me pointers for my little sticker and now maybe t-shirt business. I totally appreciate his friendship and his help.. day 2 of my weekend was awesome, I wonder what I'm going to do tomorrow.

Looking forward to my 3 day weekend

WB is the first company I ever worked for that gives Good Friday off as a holiday. Pretty cool huh? There's really no Mini activities except the Ruby's Long Beach breakfast on Sat, so now I need to figure out what I'm going to do for the other 2 days. Hmm, maybe I'll go to the range, haven't done that in awhile

There's another Angel in heaven today

My good friend Edgar died early this morning and right now there are no words that can convey my sadness. We/he just found out a few short months ago that he had lymphoma. The cancer spread so fast and I never got to see him due to complications before he died. I guess maybe that was a good thing because I'll get to remember his smile instead of remembering him in a hospital bed in isolation.

Edgar was the kindest, considerate, most generous person I know, he never had a bad word about anyone, he was artistic, both with his flower arangements and his watercolors and he loved to dance, boy could he dance... He leaves behind his beloved dog Toby, his cats and many friends who loved him. I will miss him, but heaven is lucky because they got another Angel today.....

Got my Ridemakerz MINI yesterday

On the way back from the monthly SCMM Coogies breakfast, I stopped by the Post Office and was happy to find that my Ridemakerz MINI had arrived. Wow that was fast!!!

I went home and was like a little kid opening my Christmas presents. There was so many cool things in the box. The neatest thing was the tool to assemble my MINI, it was shaped as a car key and is so well made. It's amazing the amount of attention to detail this company has put into their product and their packaging. You can even customize your license plate, which they send to you but I haven't gotten yet.

I assembled my car by attaching the RC chasis and bolted it down using the supplied key tool, then started adding all of my accessories. I was a little disappointed that while putting everything on I noticed that one of the plastic tabs was broken. However I called Ridemakerz and they told me no problem, they will ship another MINI car body out with Monday's mail. The kit that comes to the house already has a prepaid return label and a return form. All you have to do is put it in a box and ship it back with the prepaid label affixed to the box. Like I said this company has paid attention to all the details.

I got to play with my car for a little bit and I have to say this thing is amazing.. The MINI is so detailed, it looks exactly like my car except it's black. The headlights come on when you are driving forward and the brake lights come on when you reverse.

This is one of the best RC cars I've ever had... I can't wait til I get my replacement one so I can really play with it.

Woodstock turned into a Bunny

I met the Maniacs at our once a month breakfast in Malibu this morning, it was a beautiful day. Ken & Debe turned Woodstuck into a Bunny Rabbit...

You should have seen the faces on the tourists as I drove home on Sunset, they actually took pictures... Too funny...

Finally joined Facebook

Well after much prodding and poking from my sister, friends, nieces etc. to join Facebook, I finally gave in and joined. (actually I joined several months ago, but have been too busy to post about it) I was reluctant to join cuz, I have so many other things going on in my life that I didn't think joining a social network would be a good idea. I figured it would take up the remaining spare time I have left during my already busy days..

At first my fear came true, I pretty much spent all my free time on Facebook trying to find old friends, talking with friends that I reconnected with etc. It's pretty awesome to find someone that you have been thinking about for 20 years and not really sure how to find and then actually find and connect with them... that happened a couple of times already, and my life is better because of it..

It's really cool to see what's going on in my family and friends lives in real time. I have a personal rule, I don't add anyone that I don't personally know and I don't add anyone that I currently work with. Which means that all my friends are actually my friends and not friends of friends, so facebooking is more personal for me... The work thing should be pretty obvious. I have explained this to my friends at work and they totally understand. It's not that I have anything to hide, it's just I don't want to mix my work life with my personal life.

I'm still on Facebook everyday, but now I just leave it logged on and I read whats going on in my friends lives and comment when appropriate. Facebook has not taken over my life like I thought it would but it has enhanced it and I'm glad I joined....

Got the Flu bug or something

Not sure where I got this but I started feeling not so good in the middle of my work day, ended up falling asleep in my car with the chills and everything. Went home took some Dayquill and my sis brought me some wonton soup...Fell asleep in the middle of ER and woke up later feeling much better. Weird...

Ordered my Ridemakerz RC MINI

Thanks to Andy who gave me the $50.00 giftcard he won at AMVIV, I finally ordered a Ridemakerz MINI RC car. I have been wanting one of these for a long time, ever since I saw them at MTTS L.A. last Aug.

They did not have a yellow MINI so I ended up ordering the Asphalt Black RC MINI with pretty much everything on it. I got the extra set of wheels, tires, construction light kit with orange cones, the battery pack, the side lights and some extra stuff that I can't remember. The total cost was approx $96.00 but since I had the giftcard it only cost $46 which is awesome for all the stuff I got... They shipped it yesterday, I can't wait to get it an put it together.

I wish they would open one of their awesome stores here, cuz it looks like it would be so much fun picking out all the stuff in the store and putting it together. Think Build A Bear but for cars... really cool idea!!! I'll post pics of my new MINI when it gets here.

The other Woodstock

Sorry the picture is so bad and you can't see Woodstock flitting all over the car...

I finally met the other Woodstock from Washington state.. He is sooo cute, where is my Woodstock is a little badder looking....Other Woodstock got his amazing graphics from Athestic Creations, he is liquid yellow and a convertible and I must say he looks awesome, so much so that he won this years AMVIV car show.. Congratulations other Woodstock!!!

AMVIV is over until next year

Wow, AMVIV came and went sooo fast. Time always flies when you are having a good time.

We packed Woodstock the night before so we could checkout and head over to the Palace Station for breakfast and some last minute sales. For some reason I thought breakfast started at 10:00 but it actually started at 06:00 and ended at 10:00. When we got to Palace Station at around 8:00 am there was hardly anyone around, cuz most of the people had left or were in the process of leaving. We applied the custom stickers for the people that ordered them the night before and since it was so dead we decided to leave earlier than we had planned.

Andy & Jennifer stopped by before they left, Andy won a Ridemakerz $50.00 gift card and he gave it to me before he left, which was totally awesome!!! I've been wanting one of those for awhile..I just got done ordering it a few minutes ago. Anway, Jeff & Lindy, Evie and me and Aunt Clara left at around 9:30. we got home around 1:30..

I was beat, so I went home, halfway unpacked Woodstock washed some clothes and hit the sack early... My first AMVIV went by fast but I had a great time, I can't wait until next year...

AMVIV continued Sat...

Ok, I'm finally caught up with my posts and no more back dating...

After the Las Vegas strip cruise, we were exhausted and went back to the timeshare. I had to make a whole bunch of custom stickers, for the people who had ordered them during the day, before I could go to sleep. I was up til 2:00 am.. I finally got to bed and it seemed like only a few minutes had gone by and the guys who were staying in the room above us woke up and started taking showers and walking around.. Geez I looked at the clock and it was freakin 5:00 am.. so I started off Saturday one sleepy girl...

I decided to stay at the booth and sell stickers all day. We sold and installed so many stickers I couldn't even keep track of how many we sold. Luckily my aunt was organized and kept track of everything. I just did the installs, for some reason people like me to stick them on their windows for them.....

Oh yeah the organizer for Mini in the Mountains came by and wanted to me consider being a vendor in Aug.. I'm seriously thinking about it since my current contract ends July 31st, and this event is the week after that.

Sat was pretty much the last day, and since my sister flaked and went home early I was stuck with a huge tent and an extra suitcase and no room in my MINI. I'm soo lucky to have SCMM friends, cuz Andy L. and Jennifer T. did me a huge favor by taking my tent and two folding chairs home with them. There was no way they were going to fit in my car since it was already jammed pack with everything else. Thanks Andy and Jen!!!! I totally appreciate your help...

Me, my aunt and Robert and his granddaughter went to the banquet, it was pretty good and we had a nice time and met some people from the Arizona Mini club and some other people. It was an enjoyable evening meeting with friends and meeting new ones.

AMVIV Temple Bar (Hoover Dam) run

Another back dated post, but now I'm caught up.

We woke up before the alarm clock on Friday and was ready to start our day. Thank goodness the heavy winds had died down. We got to the Palace Station and Robert (TwistyBitz) was already there and setting up his booth. He helped us put up our tent and immediately people started coming over to buy stickers. We were still setting up at the time so we were all little unorganized, but eventually got into sync. I really wanted to go on the Temple Bar run because I had never seen the Hoover Dam before. So my Aunt told me she would man the tent while I went on the run.

Well, I have never driven a regular cooper in manual transmission before and I had told one of the club members the night before that I wanted to test drive one. She offered to let me drive her Justacooper in the Temple Bar run, because she wanted to go but she didn't want to drive. So we headed off with approx 110 Minis to Hoover Dam in Lee Ann's cooper. It took a little while to get used to the difference between my 07 MCS and her 04 cooper. I almost stalled out (how embarrasing) a few times. The run was a blasst, and Hoover Dam was amazing. It was so nice of Lee Ann to let me drive her car, I'm so wierd and don't like anyone driving my car, so it was extra nice of her to let me drive hers.

We got back sold alot of stickers then went out with several Maniacs to this awesome Mexican restaraunt. Then we did the famous Las Vegas strip cruise. Can you imaged almost 4oo Minis jam packing the strip? It was a fun tiring day!!!

Too windy to set up tent at AMVIV

I'm going to cheat a little and back date this post. I know it's cheating about my 1 post a day resolution, but the only reason why I didn't post was because there wasn't enough time in the day, not because I didn't have anything to say.

Ok, I'm back on topic now. Well our early morning caravan got into Vegas in pretty good time, and we rolled into the Palace Station at around 11:30 however, there weren't too many people around the top of the parking structure due to the 50mph winds and freezing weather (I might be exagerating a little about the freezing part). We checked in and asked the other vendors what they were going to do and they all said they were packing up and leaving. Someones tent had blown around and hit a Mini, so we didn't want to take a chance of injuring another MINI.

Geez, I was sooo bummed because I was really looking forward to setting up and starting my first AMVIV experience. Since it was so miserable on the top deck we decided to go check in at the timeshare, Sue wanted to see the it, so she came with us to check out the new place and was really impressed, it was the first time I'd ever been there since they moved from the old location.

We goofed off for a little while then went back to take a nap considering we woke up so early... That night, SCMM (SoCal Mini Maniacs) hosted a pizza party that was supossed to be on the top deck but it was still too windy so the Palace Station graciously gave us a conference room to host our club party.. Wow George always finds the best pizza places wherever we are at, it was so yummy and as usual it was really nice to hang out with the Maniacs. We left early and headed back to the timeshare so we could go to bed early and get an early start on Friday. I was hoping that Friday the wind would die down.

Early AM caravan pics

I actually managed to get up at 5:00 am this morning like I was supossed to. We made it to Walmart at 6 on the dot and Robert was already there waiting for us. Evie showed up a few minutes later, then the new guy Bruce was right behind her. We waited until about 6:20 and headed out and was perfectly synced with he O.C group who converged with us at the 605, that was pretty amazing timing.. by the time we reached Barstow we had 10 Minis in our Caravan, which is a pretty respectible turnout considering this is the first time I've ever organized a caravan.
First Potty Stop Victorville
The group stopped in Barstow to eat at Denny's then headed out. They made me the sacrificial lamb and lead car. The drive was great and no one in the group got a ticket, and made it to Vegas in a little over 4 hours even with 3 potty stops. We did hit a really scary sand storm and you couldn't even see the front of your car, luckily it didn't last that long. Our final caravan count was 11.. Denny's Barstow

This is bad, I took this pic while I was driving

Too tired to write anything

Sorry, I just got done packing Woodstock and I'm beat. I have to get up at 5:00 am so I can meet the Maniacs at 6:00 in Monrovia.. Yahoo AMVIV is finally here.. I'm too tired to write anymore. Goodnight

How do I fit all this stuff in the MINI

Since we are meeting some of the gang at Walmart in the wee hours of the morning, I started to pack Woodstock tonight. This is going to be tough, I've got all the inventory, cutter/plotter, two computers, luggage, 2 chairs, roll up table, display signs, table cloths, first aid kit plus all the snacks, drinks etcx.. I'm just wondering how I'm going to get it all in the car without having to put the roof rack on.... This is going to take some creative packing...

Almost missed a day

Well, I was going to post my pictures of the 2 new shirts that I silkscreened today, but right in the middle of it I got a call from work.. Since I'm the oncall I had to drop what I was doing and reboot a system.. Gotta get back to it, I'll post more tomorrow..

Silkscreened Promo Shirts for AMVIV

I thought it would be easy to silkscreen my own shirts so I bought a kit and learned how to silkscreen a few weeks ago, but it turns out that is is a very long involved process. After much trial and error, I was able to get two designs on a some promo shirts for AMVIV today, which is great. I also have two screens in the process of drying and will be able to print some more shirts with different designs tomorrow.

My grand plan for AMVIV was to have several different images for shirts but since I ran out of time, I guess I'll give the promo shirts out with purchse of $20.00 or more...

Have a scheduled work production outage

I have a scheduled outage today, actually I'm now in the middle of upgrading our 55 production AIX servers from TL7 to TL8. Luckily there are 3 of us, so I only have to do 18 of them. 2 weeks ago it took me 8 hours to upgrade 18 QA servers with Centrify and AIX, that was a long night because I had to do it by myself, plus I was oncall, so you get all these calls while your trying to do your work, it takes twice as long to get anything done. Since I'm not the oncall tonight and just a worker bee, I'm now wrapping it up, plus we didn't have to upgrade the stupid Centrify which saved me about 4 hours of work. I can't believe we finished before midnight... Yeah now I can focus the rest my weekend on getting organized for AMVIV which is in 4 days....

Sticker Making Monster

I've been scrambling around for the last 2 weeks to get things done for AMVIV. With 6 days left, I've kicked into high gear and turned into the sticker making monster. Hopefully I'll get most of it done before Wed...

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be

I was dreading going to lunch and leaving work today, so I went to lunch a little earlier than I normally do, and the traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There were a lot of police and reporters around, but the only streets they closed were Buena Vista and Riverside for a couple of blocks. Not too bad at all. It did take me 1/2 hour to get home when it normally only takes me 7-10 mins, which was a little bad but still not as bad as it could have been. I guess I was worried for nothing, I was expecting huge crowds, there were alot of people but not the masses I thought were going to be there.

I normally don't watch the Tonight Show, but I think I will tonight, it's hard to believe this is our first President to do the show.

How hard to get to or leave work tomorrow?

Our new President, Barack Obama will be going on the Jay Leno show tomorrow, which just happens to be right across the street from where I work. I wondering how hard it will be to either get into work, leave for lunch and or leave from work tomorrow? Everyone usually lines up for the show around 1:30 - 2:00pm so I figure it won't be to hard getting to work but will be a pain in the butt to go to lunch and leave work....Geez, I hate crowds, it's going to be crazy, I wish it was my work from home day but Thur belongs to Eric....

Caravan to AMVIV6 early Thur AM

9 more days to my 1st A Mini Vacation in Vegas (AMVIV6), I can't wait, this is going to be so much fun. As of today there are 312 cars registered for this event. I'm not sure how many were there last year, but I was hoping there would be at least 300 and we made it. The more the merrier!!!

I'm still scrambling to get everything made and organized so that I can pack up the car. It's going to be a tight squeeze, but luckily my sister is driving up the day before, and she's going to take my ez-up tent and table with her..

For anyone that isn't an SCMM'r (you should really think of joining) I will be caravaning up with several SCMM'ers to Vegas early Thur morning. We will meet at the Monrovia/Duarte Walmart (off the 210 at Mountain Ave) parking lot at 6:00am and leave shortly after. Hope to see some new faces... If you decide to join our caravan, see you early Thurs morning on the 26th....

Spring Forward is kicking my butt

I must be getting old or something cuz this daylight savings change (spring forward and lose 1 hour of sleep) which happened about 3 weeks ago is kicking my butt. Before the change I was able to get out of bed before the alarm went off. After the change, I have to keep hitting the snooze button because for some reason I'm not getting enough sleep and I'm tired all of the time. I guess losing 1 hour of sleep makes a big difference, I like fall back much better....

Sat Night MINI Meet Northridge Cancelled

This is sad, our normal once a month Sat night MINI meet at Flames BBQ restaurant in Northridge had to be cancelled. Flames went out of business, I can only assume due to the current economic crisis. This was a pretty new venue for us, which was starting to become pretty popular for the valley Mini club members. This Saturdays event would have been Ashley's first event and she was disappointed when I told her the reason why it had to be cancelled. Now we have to find another establishment that will hold our 2nd Sat of the month Mini Meet...

It's Woodstock's Birthday Today

1 Year ago today, I went to Nick Alexander to "look" at a MINI", 3 hours after I got there I was driving home in my new MINI.. since I was only supossed to be looking and I had gone there by myself, I had to leave my BMW at the dealership over night..

1 year and 10800 miles later, I have had many adventures with my Woodstock and hope to have many more.

Happy 1st Birthday Woodstock, me and Niki Love You!!!

Can't think of anything to write about today

Hmm, this is a first, I can't think of anything to talk about today, I guess this is going to be a short post... =o)

MINI United 2009, to go or not to go?

Mini United will be held this year in May at Silverstone UK. I really want to go, but I have a dilemma, on the one hand its the best time ever to go to the UK, due to very cheap airfares and the weak pound. On the other hand I just spent $13,100 on my plumbing problem and I only have a job until July 31st 2009. So do I throw caution to the wind and go? or, do I play it safe and miss the biggest event for the MINI in the last 50 years??? Decisions, Decisions....

Things have calmed down

Nothing much today, the plumbers pretty much finished everything, they are just waiting for the inspector to come and sign off the gas shutoff valve. Then they have to repave the 4x4 spot on the street and then my plumbing nightmare will be over.

Niki is doing much better today, wow, she really had me worried. She's on bed rest, no jumping on off couch etc. The anti inflammatory medicine worked wonders. Boy it sucks to get old, poor thing, I hated to see her so miserable I'm glad she is feeling better.

Other than that, I'm running around trying to get ready for AMVIV.. Really a calm day compared to the last 2 weeks...

Woodstock's first official checkup

I just got back from MINI of Monrovia after taking Woodstock for his 1 year checkup. He's been to the doctor many times before for several warranty issues, but this is his 1st official service. He had his brake fluid flushed, oil and mircrofilter changed, and he got a nice car wash. He is now ready for AMVIV in a couple of weeks. I can't believe he'll be 1 year old in 4 days.. Awww my baby is growing up.

My Poor Niki

My poor Niki, I should have known something was wrong with her when she didn't get out of bed to leave with me for work. She wouldn't even let me pick her up without growling and squeaking in pain. After I dropped her off at moms she started wimpering and shaking and could hardly walk. My mom called me because she was really worried about her.

We just got back from the vet, and apparently she did something to her back and she can't walk or do much... The vet gave her a shot and sent her home for total bed rest and anti inflammatory medicine. I feel so bad for her that she is in such pain, at the least the shot will take effect pretty soon and hopefully she won't be in too much pain for long...

Time Flies

I was just looking at my AMVIV countdown clock and just realized that there are only 18 more days to prepare for it.. I just ordered the tent today and I already have my sign that I had made for the Magical Mystery tour. I still have to create more stickers and makes my display signs. It seems like it was yesterday that I had 3 months to go before AMVIV. I had all these grand plans to do t-shirts too which I had already designed but have not had the chance to make. I guess I'll make samples and just take orders. Geez, I can't believe how fast time flies. I need to get off my butt and getting going..

Coogies Today

It was a beautiful day for SCMM's 1st of the month breakfast meetup at Coogies. I woke up early and headed out without Niki. (She stayed home with mom) It was a nice twisty semi-fast drive down Sunset to PCH. I don't speed on PCH by Sunset, cuz there's always so many police just waiting to give people tickets. Plus I didn't need to get pulled over 2 weeks in a row.

Well, I'm doing about 50 mph, and I look in my mirror a see 3 MINIs approaching me pretty quick, but I can't see who it is. One of them speeds up and gets besides me and I see its one of my SCMM friends, Dan.. He waves and backs off and gets behind me again. The only problem is, a policeman saw him speed up and clocked him at 67 in a 45.. He pulled him over and gave him a ticket.. I felt so bad that he got a ticket on such a nice day... what a bummer... Sorry Dan...

Found out my vendor spot at AMVIV 6

I just found out my Stuck On Minis Vendor spot at AMVIV 6. Please come by my booth #8 located across from Vinyl Styles and Go MINI Go.

If you mention that you saw this blog post I will give you a free $2.75 sticker of your choice with the purchase of any sticker..

Little Black MINI finally has a name

Ashley took me out to dinner tonight and I asked her if she had a name for her MINI, but she said she couldn't think of one. She wanted something with Pooh on it because ever since she was little we called her Ashpooh. Well we finally came up with the perfect name for her MINI, MNI POOH..isn't that a cute name... She just got finished ordering her special license plate for him. I think it's the perfect name for her MINI....

I can't find Woodstock's license plate

Geez, since I got that fix it ticket, I need to put Woodstock's front license plate on, the problem is I can't remember where I put it... The CHP won't sigh off on my ticket unless I have it on there. Boy that is dumb, I'll have to tear apart the garage this weekend to find it

I could have bought 1/2 a MINI

Well the total for my huge sewer problem came to $13,100 almost half of what we paid for Ashley's Little Black MINI. Hmm, new MINI or new sewer, at this point since we already have 2 MINIs in the family, I guess it wasn't too bad. I now have a whole brand new sewer system that should last for the next 50-75 years....can we say that a new Mini would last that long?

Yeah, I'm back home

Yahoo!!!. I get to sleep in my own bed tonight. The plumbers replaced the sewer pipe from my house to the end of the property line and the inspector passed it today. They told me I could use the water until tomorrow.

Tomorrow they will have to clean out the sewer from the property line to the city's main sewer. Once they clean it out they will then put the epoxy sleeve in it. This effectively gives me a a brand new sealed pipe that should last for 50 years or more. Once the liner cures for approx 5-6 hours it will need to be re-inspected, then they can refill the huge trench in my front yard and this nightmare will be over.. I can't wait, I just hope it doesn't rain tomorrow...

I got a cool present

Look what I found when I got back to my moms house after dinner at Roberts. My cousin dropped this little red RC Mini off at my moms house for me. He told my mom that he couldn't find a Yellow Mini so he got the red one. That was soo nice of him, I've been wanting a RC Mini for awhile now, but also couldn't find a yellow one, so I just never bought one. I think I'll paint it yellow..

Dinner at Robert & Kittie's (TwistyBitz)

I just got back from a really nice get together hosted by TwistyBitz Robert and Kitty at their beautiful home. Robert cooked an awesome meal of gourmet Mexican food. The chicken with cheese and carmalized onion and mushroom enchiladas were awesome, and the presentation of the food was so pretty.

Mostyn & Cyndi, Chris & Brittany and Jennifer and Andy along with Robert and his wife, all members of SCMM were there. We spent a nice evening just talking and getting know each other better. I had a great time. Thanks Robert and Kittie!!!

Got pulled over by the CHP

I'm on my way to work this morning, and this minivan totally cuts me off, I'm not too happy about this and speed up and cut across two lanes (didn't cut anyone off) to get away from him, then get back in front of another car. I guess I did this twice, then slowed down. A CHP sees the whole thing except the part where the minivan cuts me off, and pulls me over. I asked him what I did (Knowing that he got me for speeding) and he says he got me for 2 moving violations. I'm surprised by this and I asked what the second violation is? and he says illegal lane change, So I proceed to tell him why I did it and I understand about the speeding but I'm confused about the illegal lane change because I had a clear shot and no one was cut off either time I did it. I guess he saw my point, because he goes back to in his car, then comes back and says, I'm not going to give you a ticket for the 2 moving violations but I am going to give you a ticket, so I ask him for what? and he says no front license plate and tinted windows on the 2 front side windows. (I knew that one was coming, but I wasn't about to argue with him). To top it off for some reason my car registration was nowhere to be found. He let that one slide too.

Wow that was nice of him, he really should have given me the ticket for speeding even though it was only for a few seconds. This incident could have capped off my already pretty miserable week, but he actually made my day for being so nice and letting me off the hook, it also helped that he was pretty cute too. Oh yeah he said he liked my car and all of the stickers too. He also stated that at first he didn't get my license plate until he saw the sticker of Woodstock, then he understood. I've gotten out of tickets before, but I really thought I was going to get one this time, I'm glad I didn't....

Woodstock bonds with his nephew

Me, Niki and Woodstock had to spend the night at my moms house last night and again tonight, cuz I still can't use the water due to my massive sewer replacement. It was the perfect time for Woodstock to bond with his nephew, the still unamed Little Black Mini. Woodstock is used to being nice and warm in his garage, but had stay out last night. I wonder if they were cold last night?